The purpose of this study was to compare return visits in 2 weeks experienced by patients using a retail nurse-practitioner clinic to similar patients using standard drop-in clinic located in a medical office.

Retail medicine clinics have become widely available. However, their impact on return visit rates compared to drop-in medical office visits for similar patients is unknown.

Medical records of primary care patients (both adults and children) seen in a large group practice in Minnesota in 2008 were analyzed for this study. Patients treated for five common conditions were selected (pink eye, sore throat, viral illness, bronchitis, and cough, n = 279). Two groups of patients were studied: those using a retail walk-in clinic staffed by nurse practitioners (n = 142) and a comparison group using regular office care for same-day visits (n = 137). The dependent variable was a return office visit within 2 weeks. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to adjust for case mix differences between groups.

The percent of office visits within 2 weeks for these groups was 20.4 for retail drop-in patients and 27.7 for same-day medical office patients, respectively (P = 0.15). After adjustment for age, gender, visit reason, and number of office visits in the previous 6 months, no significant difference in risk of early return visits in comparison to an office-based drop-in clinic was found (odds ratio 0.83, confidence interval 0.43–1.63). Our retail nurse-practitioner clinic appeared to increase access without increasing early return visits.